Russell A. Cardwell Online

Again and again, Balaam raced ahead of God’s plan. Each time God sent an angel to guard the path, and each time Balaam’s donkey saw the angel and stopped Balaam from going ahead. Each time Balaam beat her with a stick until at last she spoke.

Then the LORD opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown.

The angel of the LORD asked him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me. The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If she had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared her.”

Balaam said to the angel of the LORD, “I have sinned. I did not realize you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now if you are displeased, I will go back.”
-Num 22:31-34

When I was about 7 or 8, we went to an amusement park—Six Flags or something. I was walking along behind my parents looking up at all the sights, when at some point I noticed that the people I was following did not look exactly right. I caught up with them and found that they were not my parents at all, they were just similarly dressed. Even at that age I had a cool head in a crisis. We had passed several forks in the path, and I did not know where we had gotten separated. If I went forward, I might be going the wrong way. If I stayed where I was, they may not turn down this road looking for me. I decided that once they found I was missing, they would turn back looking for me. And the quickest way for me to be found was to go back to where I saw them last.

In the Jack Hayford book, Explaining Worship, he talks about the components of prayer, the first of which is confession. He says that even if gross sin is not a part of our lives, we still need refinement and cleansing, if for no other reason than that we have been exposed to the dirty conditions that characterize the world. Even when we do well, we still cannot measure up to God’s standards. He says, rather than condemn ourselves we need to go before God and say, “Lord, I’m growing in Your ways, but I’m not there yet. Forgive my shortcomings and continue to shape me into Your image.”

Even if we do take the wrong path, we need to come back quickly to God‘s path. Sometimes we may not know where we went wrong. Instead of worry and struggle, trying to figure out exactly where we went wrong, and come up with a way to fix things ourselves, we should do as I did as a lost child. We should ask ourselves, where was I last close to God? I know I was on the right path then. Return to that point, and start from there. God is probably already waiting there for you.

If we keep pushing ahead, we may wind up like Balaam, being taught a lesson in humility and obedience by an ass.

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